Sign



G. R. PYPER.

SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 12, 1920 1,382,226, Patented; June 21, 1921.

( ea/56B. ffy uer- INVEQNTOR ATTO NEY SIGN.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1921.

Application filed March 12, 1920. Serial No. 365,357.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE E. Prrnn, citizen of the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented new and useful Improvements in Signs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is concerned with animated picture signs, and is designed tOl produce a sign in which an elaborate picture appears upon the sign, and in which a portion or portions thereof is given the appearance of animation to produce a more realistic appearance than it would have if none of it Were animated.

To this end, I provide a screen plate of suitable dimensions and construction upon the outer face of which is painted or otherwise depicted the main portion of the picture, while the portion or portions to be animated is outlined by perforations through which the light to the rear that produces the animating effect is visible, leaving the unanimated parts of the picture unilluminated, or at any rate not illuminated by the light producing the animating effect.

As a result of my invention 1 am enabled to PlOlClllCG a much more realistic picture than has been possible heretofore, and one that has the virtue, if it is to'be used for advertising purposes, of quickly attracting attention to itself as a result of the animated part thereof.

To illustrate my invention, somewhat diagrammatically, I attach hereto a sheet of drawings in which the same reference characters are used to designate identical parts in all the figures of which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a sign containing my invention, but without having the painted or depicted portion thereof illustrated, but showing the perforations through the screen plate used in producing the animated effect;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation Off the same with the screen plate removed and the caslng shown in vertical section;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing the easing in horizontal section; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the wiring for the movable light.

In carrying out my invention, I preferably employ a strong inclosing casing 10 to protect the internal mechanism, and associated with this casing, and preferably forming the front thereof, is the screen plate 11 which is preferably made of sheet metal to give it permanency. The scenery is painted or otherwise depicted on the front thereof as elaborately as may be desired, although for convenience for illustration 1 have only shown the perforations 12 outlining the range of hills forming the background of the scene, while the perforations 13 outline the waterfall forming a part of the foreground of the scene, while the perforations 15 arranged in the arc of a circle, outline the path of the rising moon which forms one of the animated portions. Of course it will be understood that above the perforations 12 will be painted the sky, with any desired cloud effects, while below it will be painted the landscape, and whatever details are desired in the foreground. The perforations 15 are small and closely spaced together, and the body 0f the metal in which they are made is painted the same as the adjacent sky so that at the distance of the ordinary observer they are not visible from the front. The perforations 13 outlining the falls are of the same general character, and the body of the metal in which they are made will be painted to appear as a body of falling water in which the perforations, per so, are practically invisible. If the sign is devoted to commercial advertising, the advertising matter may be painted in the sky or in the foreground, or it might appear as a painted sign forming a part of the landscape.

The animating of the waterfall in the landscape is produced as follows:

At a suitable distance back of the perforations 13 and within the casing 10, I locate a high power incandescent lamp 24, some of the rays of which tend to pass through the perforations 13, and to soften the effect and prevent the specific source of illumination being visible, I preferably employ the sheet of translucent material 25, which may be paper of any desired color, which is secured to the back of the screen plate, and especially over the perforated portions 13 and 15. T he structure so far would simply give an appearance of illumination to the falls, but would not produce any effect of falling water, and to secure this desired effect, I mount at the top of the standard 19 supported from the bottom. of the casing, a shaft 18 upon which is secured or journalcd the disk 17, which has a series of narrow curved slots 20, preferably equally spaced apart and extending from near the center of the disl to near the periphery with the divergiin effect shown. To rotate this disk 7, preferably employ an electric motor 22 secur on the bottom of the casing, and for a i ducing gearing from the armature sh of the motor to the disk 17, ma e, the sin'iple mechanism shown w e .ooved pulley 23 on the end of the a gages the periphery of the size of the pulley 23 and the e of the disk 17 securing the desire: reduction. With the disk 17 rotatinsr the direction indicated by the arrow, 1 that the rays of light from A are interrupted by the dark spaces between the slots 20, and as a consequence waves of light appear to pass from the top of the falls down to the bottom, their position with reference to the disk being illustrated in Fig. 2 by the dot-ted lines 21. These waves of light, owing to the shape of the slots, pass along the length of the falls, and substantially at right angles thereto, thus producing very effectively the appearance of falling water.

At the right hand side of the casing I provide the appearance of a rising moon, and for this purpose, 1 separate that portion of the casing from the left hand end by the partition 16, and on the shaft 18 or secured to the hub of the disk 17 is a small belt pulley or sprocket wheel 36, which is connected by a belt or sprocket chain 35 with the large pulley or sprocket wheel 34 which secured to the shaft 234i journaled in the center of the standard 27 secured to the bottom of the casing. The shaft 34 has secured on its forward end the crank arm which is connected by the pitman 32 with the lever 28 fulcrumed at the upper end of the standard 27. The free end of the lever 28 is swung through the arc of a circle which has the same center as the portions of he circles outlined by the perforations 15. Se cured on the outer end of the lever 28 is the casing 30 which has the circular aperture 31 in its front and back of the circular aperture and within the casing the powerful incandescent lamp 29 which is lighted during the upward movement of the casing and is shut off during the downward movement. The circle 31 is of the proper size and the lamp is at the proper distance from the screen plate 11 so that a circle of light, simulating the moon, is cast on the rear of the screen plate 11 in the line of the per forations 15, and as the box 30 slowly ascends through the action of the reduced gearing and connections shown, the effect of the moon rising over the scene depicted on the front of the screen plate 11 is,

obtained. To control the illumination, the circuit 40 to the lamp 29, as illustrated in Flg. 4:, contains the contact 39 always enthe ring contact 38 secured on the cove 37 of insulating material carried by tile inner end the shaft 34 During the lialf of the rotation of the shaft 3% that raises the box 30 the contact ll is engaged by the semicircular contact on the sleeve 37 which contact 42 is connected by the metallic strip d3 with the contact 38.

In the operation of the sign, it will be ordinarily placed where other illumination than that so far described will illuminate the front of the screen plate 11 so that the scene painted thereon will be visible. If the sign is located in a dark place where no illumination occurs at night, its front may be illuminated by any desired means applied to the front, but with lights less powerful than the lights 2% and 29 heretofore described. As result of the structure described operating in the manner set forth, the landscape on the sign is visible with the water always apparentl falling, and half the time the landscape is graced by the rising moon.

This application is intended to cover generically the invention imperfectly disclosed in my prior application No. 339,670, filed November 21, 1919, in which 1 have claimed only the construction of the specific animating member therein shown.

lVhile l have illustrated and described a more or less specific landscape, with an animated waterfall and a rising moon associated therewith, it will be understood that my invention is not confined to any specilic landscape or picture, or to the animation of any specific feature, and that I do not desire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claims except as may, be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a picture having an animated portion, the combination with a stationary screen plate having the subject depicted on the front thereof with an animated portion outlined by relatively small and closely spaced perforations therethrough, of a stationary source of illumination back of the plate tending to throw light simultaneously through all of said perforations, a movable screen member interposed between the stationary screen plate and the source of illumination and designed systematically to interrupt the passage of light through the perforations and thereby produce the appearance of movement in the animated portion, and means for automatically moving the screen member.

2. In a picture having an animated portion, the combination with a stationary screen plate having the subject depicted on the front thereof with an animated portion outlined by perforations therethrough,

of a stationary source of illumination back of the plate tending to throw light simultaneously through all of said perforations, a movable screen member interposed between the stationary screen plate and the source of illumination and designed systematically to interrupt the passage of light through the perforations and thereby produce the appearance of movement in the animated portion, a translucent cover for the rear of the perforations to conceal the source of light and soften the animating effect, and means for automatically moving the screen memher.

3. In a picture having an animated portion, the combination of a stationary screen plate having the subject depicted on the front thereof with an animated feature outlined by translucent portions, with a stationary source of illumination back of the plate tending to throw light simultaneously through all of the translucent portions, a movable screen member interposed between the stationary screen plate and the source of illumination and designed systematically to interrupt the passage of light through the translucent portions and thereby produce the appearance of movement in the animated portion, and means for automatically moving the screen member.

4. In an animated picture mechanism, the combination with a stationary screen plate a crank arm carried by the shaft, a lever carrying an animating member and the movable source of illumination at one end cooperating with other translucent portions, connections between the lever and the crank arm, and means to rotate the disk.

5. In an animated picture mechanism, the combination with a stationary screen plate having a subject depicted thereon with an arc-shaped portion containing numerous small closely set perforations, of a lever pivoted back of the screen plate having its fulcrum concentric with the arc-shaped portion, a light carried by the lever and visible through the perforations, a screen movable with the light and serving to define the illuminated outlined scene, means for reciprocating the lever, and an automatically operated circuit breaking mechanism to open the circuit for the light during its movement in one direction.

GEORGE R. PYPER. 

